Inquisitor 1131 – Number by Loda

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Probably my quickest Inquisitor ever, I had it done-and-dusted in less than an hour.

Every clue contained an extra word, I must admit that I usually find those types of clues a tad easy since some of the words look clumsy. The title was “Number” and the word “number” was repeated six times in the preamble, making seven all together. The initial letters of extra words led to seven words, all of which could be associated with the number seven. In addition, there were seven unclued answers, these turned out to be the surnames of the actors who played “The Magnificent Seven.”

Oddly enough, the previous week’s puzzle (Inquisitor 1130), which I didn’t finish due to other commitments, was entitled The Magnificent Seven. As Jimmy Anderson might have said in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, “A cock-up on the editorial front??”

Finally, fourteen squares, spelling THE MAGNIFICENT (in the shape of a 7, as shown below) had to be highlighted.

B R O N S O N H E D D Y
U E R Y N G O A G R E E
C A C H E M A G N O X W
H S S T E P H G I L T S
H O N O U R B A F E E T
O N T A R I O I C E R U
L V I D E M C Q U E E N
Z A P S N E C O B U R N
Y U L A N L A S S O M E
O G A T E A U P U P I L
R H Y T A M A R T E N E
K N A P D B R Y N N E R
Words generated from intial letters of extra words
Clue numbers Word
7 – 19 SLEEPERS
21 – 30 STARS
33 – 39 SAGES
40a – 3d SEAS
4 – 10 HILLS
16 – 29 SISTERS
31 – 36 DIALS
Unclued entries (The Magnificent Seven) in alphabetical order
Actor Character
Charles BRONSON Bernardo O’Reilly
Yul BRYNNER Chris Larabee Adams
Horst BUCHHOLZ Chico
James COBURN Britt
Brad DEXTER Harry Luck
Steve McQUEEN Vin Tanner
Robert VAUGHN Lee
Across
Extra
No. Word Letter Entry Definition Wordplay
7 STARTED S EDDY Twister “The Eagle” (Eddie: Michael
Edwards) (homophone: said)
11 LINER L ERYNGO Sea holly R[ust]Y inside GONE (anag: curly)
12 ESCORT E AGREE Concur with GEAR (anag: change)+E[vening]
13 ELKS E CACHE Hide CA (about)+C (hundred)+HE (man)
14 PET P MAGNOX Fuel container material [m]ANX MOG[s] (anag: poisoned)
15 EYEING E STEPH Short girl: STEPH[anie] STEP (walk)+H[usband]
18 RHUBARB R GILTS Sows GI (US serviceman)+LT (lieutenant)+S[tokes]
19 STRENGTHENED S HONOUR Grace ON (leg) inside HOUR (time)
21 SHOCK S FEET Measures FEE (charge)+T[ime]
23 TRIPTANE T ONTARIO Province [t]O+RATION (anag: supply)
24 APPLIANCE A ICER Decorator [off]ICER (bluebottle)
26 RELIGIOUS R VIDE See ED[ition]+IV (four) (reversed: backs)
30 SWARM S ZAPS Strikes Z[ambia]+SPA (Special Protection Area) (reversed: from the east)
33 SPOTTING S YULAN Chinese plant LAUN[dr]Y (anag: dirty). Interesting that this contains YUL (as in
Brynner) – is it sheer coincidence?
34 AMOROSITY A LASSO How to snare LASS (girl)+O (can “O” mean “no”? I can’t seem to find it in
Chambers)
37 GREEK G GATEAU Sweet GAT (Indian music)+[b]EAU[s] (limitless lovers)
38 ECONOMICS E PUPIL Student PUP (conceited youth)+IL (“the” in Italian)
39 SURVIVED S RHYTA Greek drinking cup H[enry] inside TRAY (anag: crashing)
40 STATUTORY S MARTEN Weasely beast R[ule] inside MEANT (anag: to manoeuvre)
41 EARLOBE E KNAP Nibble AN+KP (anag: nuts)
Down
Extra
No. Word Letter Entry Definition Wordplay
2 AGAIN A REASON Cause A+ROSE+N[itrogen] (anag: to bloom)
3 SOLO S ORCS They may be seen in schools [f]O[u]R [a]C[e]S
4 HYGIENIC H SNEE Old cut [weep]S NEE[ds]
5 IBSEN I NOAH Sailor A[cting] inside NOH (drama)
6 LIBRARY L HAGGAI Book (of the bible) HAG (hew)+[a]GAI[n]. Not the plural of haggis, then 😉
8 LORRY L DROLE Amusing DR[iver]+OLE (triumphant expression)
10 SEQUOIAS S YEWS Trees W[ide] inside YES (sure)
16 SHIFTY S TOAD Hateful person T[h]O[m]A[s]+D[aughter]
17 INDIAN I PRIME Double definition Double definition
20 STRETCHING S BOCCA Mouth C[o]C[k] inside BOA (snake)
22 TREES T TUNNELER US miner (as opposed to British TUNNELLER) RULE TEN+N[ew] (anag: ground)
25 ENRAGED E CUBS Rude young girls CU (copper)+BS (bullshit), Ooh, I say!
27 RECRUITERS R ENNEAD Number NEED AN (anag: odd)
29 SUBJUGATES S ERMINE Part of ceremonial robe ER (queen)+MINE (my people)
31 DUG D PLAYA Occasional lake Homophone: player (actor.) I’m not happy with this one as I would pronounce it ply-ah but having lived in South East England for years, I guess I can “hear” how Essex men might say it.
33 INSPECTED I YORK City [ma]YOR K[urdish]
34 AGAINST A LAMB Sheep LAM (run)+B[lack]
35 LOVE L SPRY Active S[ons]+PRY (snoop)
36 SCREENS S OPEN Not closed OP[erator]+EN (space)

4 comments on “Inquisitor 1131 – Number by Loda”

  1. HolyGhost
    #1 - Wed 30th Jun 10, 21:05

    (Couldn’t add this as a comment to last week’s puzzle because of timing.)

    Got DEXTER & VAUGHN very quickly, and thought: “English batsmen” – just as in the clue for 7d in #1130. Only then did I realise that that was a reference (including COBURN) to The Magnificent Seven, the title of that puzzle and the subject of this.

    (I can’t believe that Mike Laws wasn’t editorially aware of the association of these consecutive publications – maybe an attempt to be intentionally mischievous?)

  2. Mike Laws
    #2 - Thu 1st Jul 10, 03:16

    Correct, HolyGhost. I couldn’t resist the temptation 🙂 Loda’s puzzle was already in stock when Raich’s arrived.

    It’s also been the subject of some extremely approving comments.

  3. kenmac
    #3 - Thu 1st Jul 10, 07:23

    I didn’t really think that Mike would have made a glaring mistake, hence the humorous reference.

    Personally speaking, I never saw the cricket connection having not finished IQ1130 and having little (or no) cricket knowledge.

  4. Scarpia
    #4 - Mon 5th Jul 10, 17:52

    Thanks kenmac.
    I was pleased to find this weeks puzzle a bit easier than some of the recent Inquisitors.Took me a bit longer than an hour though!
    Filled the grid in about an hour and a half and then took another half hour to spot “the magnificent”.
    Nicely constructed puzzle.

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